Frogs at Bushy |
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Learn about Frogs and Tadpoles. Six Frog species have been heard and thus reported as living at Bushy Park Wetlands. |
Frogs at Bushy |
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Learn about Frogs and Tadpoles. Six Frog species have been heard and thus reported as living at Bushy Park Wetlands. |
FROGS Frogs are tailless amphibians, with 4 fingers or digits on each hand and 5 toes on each foot. Their long hind legs are adapted for leaping. Some frogs are tree dwellers and have suckers on their toes and fingers to enable them to climb and cling to branches. The digits of both hands and feet may be partly or fully webbed for swimming efficiency. Most frogs have olive to brown skin which may be smooth, granular, ridged or warty or a combination of these. The usually moist skin which has no scales or hair, also serves as an extra means of obtaining oxygen. Many frogs have poison glands in their skin, which oozes out into the enemy's mouth causing it to release the frog. Frogs have a sticky tongue attached to the front of the mouth which they can flick out to capture prey. Frogs are carnivorous; swallowing whole insects, spiders, earthworms and minnow. Mating calls are carried out by the male, most of whom have a vocal sac used as a resonator to call the female. The male mounts the female and fertilises the eggs which are embedded in a jelly like material, as they emerge. |
TADPOLES Tadpoles hatch within weeks or months from the jelly like mass of eggs laid in the water. As they emerge they breathe through gills and attach themselves to underwater vegetation, debris or rocks. Within a few days the tail develops into a swimming organ and the tadpole detaches itself and swims off to start feeding. Tadpoles are usually brown or black in colour with a large round head and a long flat tail. The tail is approximately two thirds its body length and is used to swim through the pond, lake or slow moving river. They are usually vegetarian but if plant material is scarce, tadpoles have been known to eat each other. Over a period of weeks to a year - depending on species, the tadpole gradually takes on the appearance of its parent frog. This change from larva to an adult is called metamorphosis. During the final stages, the lungs develop and the gills disappear. The animal absorbs the remaining part of the tail after emerging from the water to become a land living frog. |
Scientific Name |
Common Name |
Male Frog Mating Call |
Victorian Smooth Froglet |
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Pobblebonk (Banjo) Frog |
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Striped Marsh Frog |
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Spotted Marsh Frog |
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Southern Brown Tree Frog |
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Common Eastern Froglet |
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Click here to go to 1st of 6 pages on Frogs at Bushy Park Wetlands |
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Updated 22 June 2002 |
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